Web sites such as Internet sites often provide information, products, services, and the like to their users. Many web sites require users to register before their web servers will grant access to the users. During registration, a user typically supplies personal information such as a username, account number, address, telephone number, e-mail address, computer platform, age, gender, and/or hobbies to the registering web site. The registration information may be necessary to complete transactions (e.g., commercial or financial transactions). Typically, the information also permits the web site to contact the user directly (e.g., via electronic mail) to announce, for example, special promotions, new products, or new web site features. Additionally, web sites often collect user information so web site operators can better target future marketing activities or adjust the content provided by the sites.
When registering a user for the first time, a web site typically requests that the user select a login identifier, or login ID, and an associated password. The login ID allows the web site to identify the user and retrieve information about the user during subsequent user visits to the web site. Generally, the login ID must be unique to the web site such that no two users have the same login ID. The combination of the login ID and password associated with the login ID allows the web site to authenticate the user during subsequent visits to the web site. The password also prevents others (who do not know the password) from accessing the web site using the user's login ID. This password protection is particularly important if the web site stores private or confidential information about the user, such as financial information or medical records.
If the user visits several different web sites, each web site may require entry of similar registration information about the user, such as the user's name, mailing address, and e-mail address. This repeated entry of identical data is tedious when visiting multiple web sites in a short period of time. Many web sites require the user to register before accessing any information provided on the site. Thus, the user must first enter the requested registration information before he or she can determine whether the site contains any information of interest.
After registering with multiple web sites, the user must remember the specific login ID and password used with each web site or other network service. Without the correct login ID and password, the user must re-enter the registration information. A particular user is likely to have different login IDs and associated passwords on different web sites. For example, a user named Bob Smith may select “smith” as his login ID for a particular site. If the site already has a user with a login ID of “smith” or requires a login ID of at least six characters, then the user must select a different login ID. After registering at numerous web sites, Bob Smith may have a collection of different identities (e.g., login IDs) such as: smith, smith1, bsmith, smithb, bobsmith, bob_smith, and smithbob. Further, different passwords may be associated with different login IDs due to differing password requirements of the different web sites (e.g., password length requirements or a requirement that each password include at least one numeric character and/or at least one uppercase character). Thus, Bob Smith must maintain a list of web sites, login IDs, and associated passwords for all services, devices, sites, or access networks that he frequents regularly.
Although presently available multi-site user authentication systems permit a web user to maintain a single login ID (and associated password) for accessing multiple, affiliated web servers or services, further improvements are desired. For example, users in present systems who wish to maintain multiple identities do so manually by signing in under each one in order to present the site, service or application with the information associated with that identity. In the case where a user maintains multiple identities within the same authentication system, the user signs in with each credential separately to present a different set of information to different web sites/services and to make changes to that information. Present systems fail to provide a way for the user to manage the credentials as if the credentials were linked into a single credential. Further, in the case where the user maintains multiple credentials across multiple authentication systems, present systems fail to provide the user with a method of signing in using a single credential and then accessing content, information or services that typically require the use of one of the other credentials. That is, the notion of commutative identities is not supported by existing systems. Large corporations or entities desire technologies that enable identity management to allow users to combine identities and to simplify access to services and sites. For example, corporations desire an identity management system to allow the user to access all of their services and information without having to remember which identity is required for which service or site.
Some existing systems employ a shared set of data or a distributed set of data regarding multiple user identities that is accessible by several services at any time. However, such systems lack privacy controls by allowing the services to be aware of all other identities for the user at any given time including the original sign-on identity of the user.
For these reasons, a system for managing multiple identities in authentication environments is desired to address one or more of these and other disadvantages.